Building structure and bridge structure, though built with well-considered design, may still have structural problem or even collapse with time. In this regard, the designer of the structure, which is the civil engineer, may have to bear of responsibility of professional negligence. Nonetheless, most of the engineers should be professional and have followed good control of structure quality, code of practice and good on-site supervision, despite the structure built may fail after the construction. To defense themselves, engineers involved should focus on their legal responsibility on the structure and other factors that lead to the failure of the structure. The legal responsibility of civil engineers in Hong Kong is clearly shown on the codes of practice for civil engineers a. There are several codes of practice regarding civil engineering: Code of Practice for Foundations presents methods of foundation design commonly and currently used in HK and local practices that may affect the foundation; Code of Practice for Precast Concrete Construction states the design, construction and quality control of structural and non-structural precast concrete elements, which contribute to the stability of the building; Code of practice for structural use of materials like steels and concretes states design of building related structure⑴s. All of the above, including many other code of practices too long to be included, provide recommendation of all aspects in designing structure. Following the above codes, engineers can construct structure with design satisfying the requirement set by the Civil Engineering Department and recognized legally by the government. Moreover, engineers have shouldered their legal responsibility by practicing good on-... ... middle of paper ... ...failure of a structure will be inevitable provided that there are inappropriate practice from others acting on the building. Despite this, engineers nowadays is doing their best to minimize the risk of such failure. Works Cited 1. Buildings Department. Com. (2013). Codes of Practice, Design Manuals and Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.bd.gov.hk/english/documents/index_crlist.html. 2. Hong Kong Government .com.(2013). Building (Administration) Regulation (B(A)R) 37(1) and (2). Retrieved from http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_pdf.nsf/6799165D2FEE3FA94825755E0033E532/4EEE063977E08C98482575EE003ED58A?OpenDocument&bt=0 3. Department of Justice.com. (2013). Building (Administration) Regulations Delivery of notices, plans, etc. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.gov.hk/blis_ind.nsf/E1BF50C09A33D3DC482564840019D2F4/961825A7D20F34E9482579CA002D3BBE?OpenDocument
The construction industry relies on regulations, standards, and codes of practice to ensure safe buildings constructed to a quality standard. In short, they are there to protect consumers, and ensure peace of mind. If it were not so, buildings could potentially compromise user safety, with no repercussions
According to Suspension bridges: Concepts and various innovative techniques of structural evaluation, “During the past 200 years, suspension bridges have been at the forefront in all aspects of structural engineering” (“Suspension”). This statement shows that suspension bridges have been used for over 200 years, and that people are still using them today because they are structurally better bridges. This paper shows four arguments on the advantages of suspension bridges, and why you should use one when building a bridge. When deciding on building a suspension bridge, it has many advantages such as; its lightness, ability to span over a long distance, easy construction, cost effective, easy to maintain, less risk
All buildings which collapsed presented inadequate structures for clay soil. This occurred mainly because of corruption and poor planning. Most of collapsed buildings were recently built. The Government's negligence was the main culprit which impacted of the huge number of deaths. While other structures that were very old and built for the type of clay terrain withstood the earthquake. Surveys after the earthquake showed most of the fallen buildings had specifications lower than those demanded in the contracts. But no one was ever charged nor convicted. Particularly serious was the case of the state builder in charge of the construction of schools. Their executives were left unpunished despite the high number of destroyed schools and schoolchildren who were killed.
Bhatt, P. P. (n.d). Prestressed concrete design to Eurocodes / Prabhakara Bhatt. London; New York: Spon Press, 2011.
During the past two centuries a various number of bridges and buildings had been structurally failed and collapsed all over the world. Some of these cases caused a sizeable number of human losses. For example, collapse of Tay Bridge in 1879 killed at least sixty persons. Beside the problems related to their construction and design, probably the miscarriage to follow engineering ethics correctly was partly responsible for these incidents. Growing engineering professionalism during the nineteenth century gave rise to the development of a number of famous engineering societies, such as American Institute of Mining Engineers (AIME) (1871), American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE ( (1884), etc. Instead, responding to series of significant structural failures mentioned above, some engineering societies developed formal codes of ethics.
When designing an earthquake-proof building, certain preparations must be made. Before building design starts, engineers first determine the seismic risks of the location based on historical data. ...
Authorities have attempted to implement codes or regulations, but that has proved to be very difficult tasks becasue there are many variables that effect the dynamic response of buildings. One way to try to avoid disaster is to evaluate seismic risk is to look at a buildings hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and location. Hazards are, for example, landslides ad soil type. Exposure is a building's occupancy and function. Vulnerability is the expected performance of a building's system, and location is how often earthquakes occur in the area. (Lagorio)
Civil engineering has been one of the most important revolutionary keystones of civilization as it has been able to fundamentally change the development of the society throughout the history of mankind. It is a profession with largely human interest in mind. The civil engineers have been able to make use of the natural resources in the environment to make human life more comfortable and efficient. They have also been able to make our day to day life trouble-free by constructing buildings to live, learn and work, roads and railways to travel, bridges to connect unreachable points, airports for air travel and so on. When planning, designing, constructing the civil engineers have always given a great attention to facts such as safety, serviceability,
In conclusion, civil engineers have a responsibility to deal with current issues in a professional and ethical manner for the benefit of society. The topics discusses included: high energy consumption of buildings, the need for efficient water resources, transportation planning, poor infrastructures doomed to failure, the need to have higher standards to become a licensed professional engineer, how globalization has affected all engineers, and the need to have more professional use advance engineering informatics. All these subjects were pondered about how these challenges can be overcome are there effective methods that engineers can apply today. Unfortunately, not all problems are easy to handle.
Johns Hopkins University. (2009, March). In disaster-prone areas, construction needs a new approach. Retrieved from http://phys.org/news157051992.html
Chapman R.J, 2001, “The Controlling Influences on Effective Risk Identification and Assessment for Construction Design Management”, International Journal of Project Management.
Mechanical engineers have a responsibility of ensuring they abide by general ethics as that have been laid down by engineering bodies such as the American Society of Mechanical engineers. Engineers have to sound alarm whenever safety violations are breached or when the organization does not perform required procedures that may endanger lives. It is the engineer’s duty to inform members of the public whenever legal bodies fail to nullify projects which may cause disasters.
Structural Engineering deals with the design and construction of all types of structures including buildings and bridges. Emphasis is placed on mechanics and the behaviour of materials.
In today's society we can't imagine our infrastructures without the help of civil engineers. It all started with the ancient civilizations. It started off with the Egyptians and the Mayans. In this essay I will discuss the history of civil engineering ,famous engineers and the prospects of engineering in the future years.
This essay will review major bridge collapses, and how they were resolved to improve the design of future bridges. The two main causes of bridge failure, wind loads and improper design or design flaws, will be discussed with examples like the Tacoma bridge collapse of 1940 and the I-35 Mississippi River bridge collapse of 2007 later on in the paper (4, 1). Although these are the two usual causes of bridge collapse there are also many other reasons for bridge failure such as, corrosion by environment, natural disasters, erosion, oversight of design criteria, loading beyond design, collision, and many different contributing factors. The goal of this essay is not only to discover why bridges collapse and give information on the subject, but to also see how a slight miscalculation or the oversight of some detail can lead to a momentous disaster. Although, a few cases of disaster, as will be seen, just cannot be helped.